


Kneel

by evilwriter37



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Blood, Branding, Gen, Whump, hiccup!whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:01:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22504474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Hiccup is captured by Viggo Grimborn, who has it set in his mind that he's going to make the Dragon Rider kneel to him.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	Kneel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyallwolfart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyallwolfart/gifts).



“Do you know what a brand means, Hiccup?” Viggo asked calmly, turning the iron over in the brazier.

Hiccup swallowed hard, watching Viggo’s every move. “Y-yes.”

Viggo turned his head to smile at him, flashing his teeth. There was a cruel glint in his dark eyes. Hiccup adjusted himself in his bonds. He was tied to a rafter in Viggo’s dragon-skin tent, standing on his only foot. His prosthetic had been taken while he’d been unconscious, along with his clothes. He couldn’t remember much about his capture, but that’s what happens when one gets hit in the head and loses consciousness. 

“Tell me what this means,” Viggo said, lifting the iron, staring at it. It was in the shape of Viggo’s crest, a fist crushing a heart. Hiccup felt like his chest was constricting, like his own heart had a fist around it.

“Y-you would…” Hiccup couldn’t say it.  _ Own me. Viggo would own me.  _

Viggo came over to him, holding the branding iron. He looked so satisfied, and Hiccup despised it. 

“Please don’t do this,” Hiccup whispered. “Please don’t.”

“I do what I want, Hiccup. You should know that by now.”

The branding iron hovered over Hiccup’s chest, heat making his skin tingle. Hiccup was breathing heavy and harsh. He wasn’t ready for this. No one could ever be ready for this. It wasn’t just the pain, but the fact of what the brand meant. Own him. Viggo would  _ own  _ him. 

The branding iron was lowered onto his chest. Gods, it  _ burned!  _ Hiccup yelled, pulled on his ropes, writhed, but he couldn’t get away from the heat. It was incessant, burning, roiling. 

“Stop!”

Viggo did stop, but only because the brand was done. He pulled the branding iron away, and Hiccup’s skin was still burning in the aftermath. He looked down, tears in his eyes. On the right side of his chest, was Viggo’s brand, red and angry. 

“ _ Why? _ ” Hiccup intoned. 

“Because, I like owning new toys, Hiccup.” Viggo was putting the branding iron back in the brazier, as if he was maybe going to use it again. Gods, Hiccup hoped not. His whole world felt like it was crashing down around him, and he wanted to pick up the pieces, but couldn’t. He was branded. Branded and now owned by Viggo Grimborn, the cruelest man he’d ever met. The shattered pieces of his world crumbled to dust. 

There were other rods in the fire, and Viggo took one, examined the glowing orange metal at one end. Hiccup was a blacksmith: he knew how hot that was. He had the horrible feeling that Viggo was going to put it against his skin.

“What do you want?” Hiccup asked, not as strongly as he would have wanted to. Viggo came over with the hot iron, now examining Hiccup, eyes searching all over his body, like he was thinking about what to do with him. It made Hiccup’s skin crawl. His dark gaze was like the tip of a knife grazing over his flesh.

“Nothing more than to see you kneel at my feet.” His voice was calm, collected. He had full control over the situation and knew it.

“I won’t,” Hiccup intoned, voice stronger now. “I  _ won’t  _ kneel to you.”

Viggo shrugged. “A lot of people say that.” He looked at the orange tip of the rod. “Until the pain starts.”

Viggo pressed the rod to the soft flesh of Hiccup’s underarm, and Hiccup yelped at the sudden pain. He tried to move away from it, as one does from the source of a burn, but Viggo just followed his movements, pressed down hard. Hiccup screamed.

Then the rod was pulled away. Hiccup panted in its absence, looked to his arm, saw an angry red bar across his skin. 

“That’s the best you’ve got?” Hiccup taunted Viggo breathlessly.

Viggo chuckled. “I like your attitude.” He brought the rod down again, just above where he had before. Hiccup twisted and yelled. His brand burned on his chest in the shape of Viggo’s crest, reminding him who his owner was, who now had full control over him. Viggo could hurt him as he saw fit, and right now appeared to be a fitting time.

Viggo made three more identical burns across Hiccup’s arm, then returned the rod to the fire. Panting, in pain, Hiccup hoped he didn’t plan on using that again soon. Or at all. 

Viggo returned to Hiccup holding a knife. Hiccup stared at it, swallowed hard, but he wouldn’t give in to Viggo. He wouldn’t kneel to him.

“You appear to be thinking,” Viggo noted. “Want to surrender?”

Hiccup spit on him, making him flinch back in surprise. “Go suck your brother’s cock!”

Agony between his legs, piercing upwards to his stomach. Viggo had brought a booted foot up into his balls. Hiccup choked, tried to double over but couldn’t because of the ropes. He nearly lost his footing. Tears welled in his eyes. 

Viggo grabbed him by the chin, brought his head up to make him meet him in the eye. Hiccup’s tears flooded over. Pain roped its way through his body from his balls to his stomach. That had been a rather hard kick. He wanted to moan, but not while Viggo was holding him like this.

“You will not speak to me like that,” Viggo told him. “As your new master, I reserve the right to do whatever I wish with you.”

“Fuck,” Hiccup panted, “you.”

Viggo slapped him hard in the face for that. Hiccup turned back to face Viggo, right cheek smarting. It appeared that Viggo was left handed like himself. 

“Now,” Viggo said. “Where to begin?”

“With what?”

Viggo took a step back, trailed the edge of the knife against Hiccup’s chest. 

“The human body is a work of art, in its own right,” Viggo said, ignoring his question. “But it works as a blank canvas, a sheet of wood to work on.” The knife dug down into Hiccup’s chest, pulled a scream from him. Then it continued down in an arcing line, over his breast, to the center of his chest, then towards his stomach. Hiccup wanted to fight and flail, but that would only make the pain worse. So, he forced himself to stand still and take the cutting. There was nothing he could do but scream.

Viggo pulled the dripping knife away with an almost dreamy sigh. “Such precious screams.” He took the knife back to his body. 

  
  


Hiccup tried doubling over from another kick in the balls, droplets of blood spattering over the ground. The red went over his body in trails, making its own streams and rivers across his skin. Viggo pulled him upright, gripped him hard by the shoulder.

“You  _ will  _ kneel to me.” His voice shook with rage. He was apparently growing tired of this torture, as was Hiccup. He just wanted to be left alone somewhere to rest. 

Hiccup laughed. It was hoarse and dry and cynical. 

“You’ll have to kill me first.”

This time, a knee between his legs, forcing pain up through his stomach. Hiccup choked on anguish. 

Viggo pulled away from him, breathing hard from anger. 

“I’ll continue breaking you in tomorrow,” Viggo said. A smirk upturned his lips. “You’ll like tomorrow.”

Hiccup had a dreadful feeling that he really wouldn’t.

“Guard!” Viggo called. It wasn’t a moment later that a Dragon Hunter was stepping into the tent. He gave a curt bow to Viggo:

“Yes, my lord?”

Viggo waved a dismissive hand at Hiccup. “Take him away. One of the dragon cages will do.”

“Yes, sir.” Suddenly, Hiccup was being cut from his ropes, and he fell backwards into the burly arms of the Dragon Hunter. Hiccup tried fighting his way out of his grip, but it was difficult with just the one foot to balance on, and his strength stolen from him by pain. Movement hurt too much so he gave up, let himself be dragged out of the tent. Hiccup craned his head to take one last look at Viggo. He was bent over his desk with his hands placed on it in fists, staring at papers on top of it. His bloodied knife rested on the edge of the desk. One drop rolled off and fell onto the desk before everything was obscured from view by the tent flap.

Hiccup was pulled along by the Dragon Hunter, his foot scraping bare ground. The hold he had on him hurt, and Hiccup grunted and moaned.

It was a long journey through the camp to the dragon cages. Hiccup had been here before, when he’d been trying to rescue Heather, and Viggo had revealed his trap. And now he’d be trapped again, locked in a cage like a lowly animal.

The Hunter threw him into the cage after opening the door. Hiccup would have tried to get up and get away, but he was too hurt, winded, so he just laid there, trying to catch his breath. The door clanged shut and was locked, sealing his fate for the next day and whatever horrible thing Viggo had planned for him. 

Hiccup laid there, staring up at the trees above him, and appraised his hurts. There were slashes all over his torso, burns on both his arms, whip marks on his back. 

And then worst of all was the brand. That horrible brand, a fist crushing a heart. Now it lay close to his, just on the other side of it, Viggo’s crest scorched into his skin. 

He was Viggo’s, and would be as long as either of them lived. If Viggo died, however…

But there was no way to kill him. Not from this cage, not the way he was. Looking around, Hiccup realized that pants and a blanket had been thrown in with him. He struggled to put the pants on, trembling fingers slick with his own blood. Some wounds had stopped bleeding, but others hadn’t, were still trickling out rivulets of scarlet. Hiccup wanted it to stop. He wanted it all to stop. 

The pants were too big for him, hanging around his hips, but Hiccup didn’t care. At least it made him decent. Next, he pulled the blanket around himself, trying to get as comfortable as he could in the cage. The hard metal bars dug into his stinging back. Rolling on his side was the most comfortable he could get. 

And, exhausted, Hiccup closed his eyes. Pain carried him away, cradled him in its arms, and took him away into unconsciousness. 

  
  


Hiccup was woken by the sounds of explosions and fighting. He started awake, sat up with a groan. It was dark all around him save for flashes of fire that took the night. A grin spread his lips. His friends had come to find him. 

Though, Hiccup could do nothing but wait. He tried shouting, calling out for help, but that didn’t do anything. He just had to sit and wait. 

Suddenly, there was a dragon landing near his cage, a Gronckle. Hiccup knew the large man that rode her.

“Fishlegs!” He stumbled to his one foot, grabbed onto the bars of the cage to keep himself standing. “Fishlegs, I’m here!” 

His friend rushed off his Gronckle, holding a ring of keys that shook and jangled. 

“Hiccup! It’s so good to see you!”

Hiccup thought the same thing, but then he remembered the brand. He didn’t want anyone seeing it. He pulled the blanket tight around himself. It was stained with blood. 

Fishlegs tried one key, then another, and another. There were still sounds of fighting, much closer now, the fire lighting up the night. 

“Fishlegs, you gotta hurry.” What was worse than Hiccup’s own capture, would be his friends’ capture. 

“I’m trying!” A key went successfully into the lock. “Aha!” The door swung open and Fishlegs rushed into the cage to help Hiccup out. Hiccup slung one arm around him, hopped with his one foot. Every movement jarred his injuries, but it couldn’t be helped. He had to escape.

Getting onto Meatlug was harder, but Hiccup was glad once he was on her back. He felt safe on the back of a dragon, knew that he would be okay. 

Fishlegs clambered on and they took off towards the fighting.

“I got him!” Fishlegs shouted. “I got Hiccup!”

“Retreat!” Astrid called. Hiccup saw her fighting beside Stormfly, her axe out, covered in red. She slung herself onto her back, and together, the Dragon Riders took off. 

They didn’t talk much on their flight back to Dragon’s Edge, probably thinking it would be easier to talk once they were all on the ground. Hiccup didn’t mind. He didn’t want to move his blanket, didn’t want to reveal his brand and what had been done to him. 

Hiccup kept looking behind them into the night, wondering if they were being followed. Surely Viggo couldn’t let his property get away. 

But he had. For now. 

  
  


Hiccup clung tight to the blanket, refusing to remove it. He stood in the clubhouse beside Toothless, who he’d been overjoyed to see again. His friend had been more than happy as well. But now the Riders wanted to treat him, and to do that Hiccup had to remove the blanket and show what had been done to him.

“Hiccup, we have to treat you,” Fishlegs said gently. No one took a step towards him. The Riders were around him in a tight semi-circle. Even with his new prosthetic on, Hiccup couldn’t escape. 

“I-I know that.” Hiccup backed up some more, bumped into the table behind him. Any farther and he’d be on it or under it.

“Then just take the blanket off.” Astrid’s voice was gentle. “Please.”

“You won’t like it,” Hiccup told them.

“We don’t have to like it,” Snotlout said. “We just have to treat it.” 

Hiccup pursed his lips into a thin line, jaw tight. Then, he slowly removed the blanket.

Their were gasps from everyone surrounding him. Astrid stepped forward, reached out a hand and gently touched his shoulder. There were tears welling in her eyes. 

“Hiccup, he…”

“I know.” He knew she was talking about the brand. He could tell that everyone gathered was staring at it, like he feared they would. But why shouldn’t they? This was monumental, meant that he was owned by somebody. 

Then Hiccup was hit with a terrible realization: He’d have to tell his father.

“What do I do?” he asked, tears in his eyes, his voice choked. “What am I supposed to do?”

Astrid cupped Hiccup’s cheek. “Let us help you,” she said. And, with nothing else to do, Hiccup nodded.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Everything Changed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23458876) by [DragaBloodvist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragaBloodvist/pseuds/DragaBloodvist)




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